I first created this list in early 2010 when I was using my Android phone to keep up on books while waiting for my nook to arrive from Barnes & Noble. Since then, it has grown and evolved. I don't read primarily on an Android device anymore, so if anyone finds something that has changed, is inaccurate, or a great addition to the list, feel free to comment here or send me a PM. I'll make sure to give credit and karma when possible.

Notes: Google has introduced book purchases into their update of the old Android Market, making it easy to buy apps, books, and music. Books are stored in the cloud, but may be downloaded as ePub or PDF files.

Notes: Most popular eBook application in the market at this time. The best feature for those already using Amazon's Kindle is that the Android app "knows" where you stop reading. If you read a bit on your Kindle at home, you can pick up where you left off on your smartphone on the commute to work. When you pick up your Kindle at home, you guessed it. It syncs. Even better, for those who have rooted their nook color devices, it's like having Kindle and nook in one unit.

Notes: If you own a nook, this is the mothership. It has a refined interface, not quite up there with Aldiko, but definitely a good experience. Unfortunately, it weighs in at a whopping 17MB installed, and doesn't even integrate the B&N store into the app, sending eBook purchasers to the website instead. For Android users without apps2sd (via hacks or froyo) it's not worth it yet, but shows promise.

Notes: Sony's long-expected app is now out for Android, but only supports 2.2 (froyo) and later--pretty odd considering Sony-Ericsson phones don't run this version yet. The app does for Sony Readers what the Kindle and nook apps do for their respective readers in terms of functionality, offering download of already-purchased books, text highlighting, etc. One quibble is that it links to the Android browser to actually purchase material.

Notes: Supports Adobe DRM and password-protected files. Allows note-taking, text-to-speech, dictionary support, font customization, full range of filters for book searches. It seems to be the kitchen sink of ebook readers for Android.

Notes: Sports the best interface of all readers for Android, using a cover browser on wooden library shelves. Has multiple methods of turning pages and a great night mode. It allows grouping of books into collections and has dictionary support. I don't think there are any differences in functionality between the free and premium versions. Instead, the premium version is more a "donationware" idea. The only cons I've found is it's impossible to click on links in the text to footnotes and it requires its books to be stored in a specific spot on the SD card, making book sharing or comparing among apps a pain.

Notes: Has note-taking and highlighting features, along with online (Google, Wikipedia) and offline (ColorDict, Fora) dictionary support. It also has auto-scroll and online translation (again, Google). The paid version includes TTS (text-to-speech) capabilities.

Notes: Claims to handle about every ePub you can throw at it as well as PDF files. It supports Adobe DRM for ePub which allows books purchased or downloaded from multiple online sites to be read. One quibble is that pressing the "back" button loops from current book to the library and back.

Notes: iSilo is a large, proprietary format made popular in the days of Palm devices. Clients are available for a wide variety of devices, making at least older books widely available. It's an old format, but has its die-hard fans, as evidenced by the hefty pricetag. iSilo, as a format, is hard to convert *from* but easy to convert *to*. This app comes with the CIA World Factbook free.

Notes: This is one of the best dedicated reader apps for Android. It has multiple page-turn options, a great night mode, and the ability to click links in the text for footnotes. It also allows you to store books where you like on your sd card. It has expanded its support for online catalogs recently to support any OPDS compatible catalog. If you browse to feedbooks.mobi and click on an ePub link, it will automatically download and import into FBReader. As an added bonus, there is a separate plugin you can download from the Market, giving FBreader Text-to-speech (TTS) support.

Notes: Its slogan is "The YouTube for eBooks!" Has a teleprompter-like autoscroll mode. Also happens to be cross-platform. Downloads happen by obtaining a "wattcode" for a particular book from the Wattpad mobile site. Entering the code in the reader will download the book.

Notes: Uses the text-to-speech (TTS) functionalities of the Android device to speak the text of the eBook. Works with multiple languages as well as several different voice services. In other words, it's not limited to just the Android speech synthesis system.

Check out Laputa Reader, Best Reader, Wisbook, and the below for a wide selection of readers supporting Asian scripts in horizontal and vertical modes. Searching for the popular formats, aozora bunko and chm, will also yield many results.

Notes: Optimized for phones and tablets. Single and double page viewing. Auto scrolling. Right left to right reading mode for mangas. Color adjustments. Automatic page cropping for small devices. Full library management with lists and searching. Management of reading states (unread, completed etc.) and bookmarks. USB and Wifi synchronization with ComicRack for Windows.

Notes: Newcomer to the Market. Its most interesting feature is "Smart Lens" which allows you to tap on a text block in the comic, creating a popup of the enlarged text. It also has animated page turns, remembers where you left off, and many options to fit pages correctly on the Android screen.

Notes: If you use eBooks and don't know about Calibre, you've been living under a rock. Calibre, designed by MobileRead.com's own Kovid Goyal, is the swiss army knife of eBook tools. Originally designed for Sony's PRS-500, it has grown over the last five years to support most popular devices as well as a few less popoular ones. It allows for conversion between many formats, reading books on a computer, downloading periodicals...periodically, and acts as a server so that you can download your saved eBooks wirelessly from your computer to your devices as easily as you would from your device manufacturer's store. This app for Android is the client for that server feature.

On the face of it there seems to be a lot of choice around for epub reader software for Android until you realise most / all of the above are unable to read Adobe DRM epub which is nominally still the standard.

Not a deal breaker for many on mobileread who prefer to strip the DRM but sometimes I do not have the time or can be bothered to strip the DRM and would happily just want to read a DRM epub on my Android phone.

So I suggest an update on the above list to clearly state which software can read what type of DRM epub (if any) would be useful.

It really surprises me that Adobe or A.N. Other big player who has adopted Adobe DRM epub e.g. Sony haven't put some resources into developing a software reader for Adobe DRM for use on Android / Windows / iphone. It is Amazon's strategy that I thought played well to the galleries. Being able to synchronize between your phone and dedicated ereader is functionality I want and I would guess is popular?

I upgraded to an Android phone (HTC Desire) at the weekend. Wonderful gadget; so much faster than the Windows Mobile phone I had before.
I'll be buying iReader today, mainly because it covers Mobipocket DRM. While there is a free version, it's a much earlier version.

It really surprises me that Adobe or A.N. Other big player who has adopted Adobe DRM epub e.g. Sony haven't put some resources into developing a software reader for Adobe DRM for use on Android / Windows / iphone. It is Amazon's strategy that I thought played well to the galleries. Being able to synchronize between your phone and dedicated ereader is functionality I want and I would guess is popular?

I have seen a few people wonder why sony haven't got an app on other hardware and the answer is pretty obvious, they are in the hardware business and what little interest they have in their bookstore is in how it helps hardware sales, in countries outside north america they didn't even bother with their own store and are just partnered up with local retailers e.g. waterstones in the uk.

Adobe on the other hand not being more proactive does seem very odd since the combination of adobe drm and epub was basically the standard outside north america with all ebook sellers with kindle being almost nowhere, but all that lead will vanish with the fragmentation of epub support due to ibooks and b&n using other drm and amazon getting a kindle app on every devicetype in existence.

This is my first post and let me say how nice it is to find so many kindred spirits! I started reading ebooks on my Palm more than 10 years ago and have been hooked on ebooks ever since. When Palm abandoned it's old OS a while back I bought a Blackberry and have been sorely disappointed with the ereader software available for it. I will be getting an Android soon and am pleased to see the iReader software supports autoscroll. I agree with the Tonyx3. When you read books on small devices, it's very distracting to have to swipe the pages every few seconds. I would think this feature would be a no-brainer for ereader software for small devices. I hope software developers are reading this and take heed!

This is my first post and let me say how nice it is to find so many kindred spirits! I started reading ebooks on my Palm more than 10 years ago and have been hooked on ebooks ever since. When Palm abandoned it's old OS a while back I bought a Blackberry and have been sorely disappointed with the ereader software available for it. I will be getting an Android soon and am pleased to see the iReader software supports autoscroll. I agree with the Tonyx3. When you read books on small devices, it's very distracting to have to swipe the pages every few seconds. I would think this feature would be a no-brainer for ereader software for small devices. I hope software developers are reading this and take heed!

That's fine if it's optional. I know personally I can't stand scrolling of any kind and would much rather just tap the edge of the screen (ala Aldiko).

I just got a Motorola Backflip Android phone and am in love with iReader.
It reads secure eReader (.pdb) and Mobipocket secure (.prc). The Mobipocket is a hack - you put in the PIN as opposed to using the actual Mobipocket reader software which is device dependent.

And it autoscrolls - not only that it actually will autoscroll fast enough that I can use it, and that's the first time I've EVER found software that will do that. (Backflip AT&T is crippled Android - must use Marketplace apps unless you go through some slightly more complicated steps - i.e. download the developer stuff.)